Reenforced concrete construction for piers, bulkheads, sea walls, and dry docks



A. BROWNLEEQ REENFORCED CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION FOR 'P|ERS,.BULKHEADS, SEA WALLS, AND DRY BOOKS.-

APPLICATION nuzu AUG-3| 1'911.

Patented May 2, 1922.

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.INVENTOR A. BROWNLEE. REENFDRCED CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION FOR PIERS, BULKHEADS, SEA WALLS, AND DRY DUCKS.

' APPLICATION FILED AUG.3| I9I7.

1314520, Patented. May 2,1922.

2 SIIEETS-SHEET 2.

IN V EN TOR.

, a if ET stares ALEXANDER BBOWNLEE, or sun 31sec. oALrroianIA.

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ar ness.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, A EXAN ER BROWNLEE, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Diego, in the county of'San Diego and State of California, have invented certain.

new and useful Improvements in Reehforced Concrete Construction for Piers, Bulkheads, Sea Walls, and Dry Docks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the construction of piers, dry-docks, bulkheads, seawalls,"caissons, cotter-dams and the like structures of reenforced concrete, and'theprincipal objects of my invention are, first, to provide a structure of this type which is composed of comparatively indestructible materials second, to provide such a structure in the building of which the materials from the place in which the structure is to be erected may be used in'conne'ction therewith for reenforcing the structure third, to provide a structure of the type which may be driven intothe bottom of a river, sea, harbor or other place where the structure is .to be erected'without a prior or special preparation therefor; fourth, to provide a structure ofthe kind to which the fender-or buffer system of any kind maybe attached, if desired; fifth, to provide a structure of the kind that is provided with a.

hollow, monolithic continuous reenforced concrete cap, and sixth, to provide such a structure that is economical of construction and durable. 7

With these and other objects in view, as will hereafter appear, my invention consists ofcertain novel features of'construction,combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter described in detail and particularly set forthin the appended claim, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings and the characters of reference thereon which forma part of this specification, in which:

for piers and bulkheads, witha portion of the top broken awayto better illustrate the location of certain supporting members; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through A-B in- Figure 1; Fig 3 is a frontelevational view of the portion of the structure shown in Fig. 1; Figures i an'd4 are cross sectional views of sheet piling construction showing the form of construction and attachment of the piles to each other for a specification of Iietters Patent.

thereby making a water-tight wall.

Figure 1 is a plan view'of my structure mama May 2,1922.

Application filed August 3, 1917. Serial 1%. 184,292..

water-tight wall; 5 is a plan View of a portion of a sea-wall constructed along thelines of my invention, Fig. 6, is a vertical sectional view of same through 6-1) in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional detailed view of a part of my pier construction showing a vertical section of the hanging fender and the method of attaching the same to the pier;"Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view of a modification of the structure shown in Fig. '6, and Figure 9 is a part sectional view of a dry well for dry-dock walls.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts throughout the different views. The principal part of my construction are the manholes 1, piles 2, cap 3, fender piles 1, grout chamber 5, longitudinal chamber 6, bracket 7 and hanging girder 8.

The structure of bulkheads, sea-walls, drydocks orIsi-milar devices consists of two or more rows-of concrete piles 2. The piles 2 in each'of the rows are fitted to'one another as shown best in Figs. 4- and 4 and when so placed the chamber 5 is filled with grout The rows of piles '2 are set parallel to each other and the space 9 between the rows is filled with sand or other material which may be clined as show-n in Figs. 6 and 8. The piles 2 are strengthened by reenforcements 11 and each is provided with a longitudinal chamher-6 adapted to have a'jet of water forced through for sinking the pile and also to be used to force grout to the bottom of the pile if it is-desired to do sofor any purpose.

- On the tops of the piles 2 connecting the parallel rows of said piles 2 is placed a reenforced cap 3. This cap 3 is provided with proper I reenforcements is rectangularly shaped, and is provided with a rectangular chamber therein and all of the parts thereof arethoroughly and strongly reenforced in theusual manner; 7 i

A hanging girder portion 8 extends beyond the row of piles'2 and is supported by bracket portions 7 disposed at intervals along the cap member 3. The hanging girder portion 8 is adapted to support the floor portion of the cap and also to'have mounted thereon the fender piles 4-. By the structure shown of the cap 3 there is provided a hollow monolithic, continuous, re-

enforced concrete cap that securely bindstogether the several rows of piles, thus providing a maximum of strength, rigidity and resistance to withstand the weight, stresses and pressures the structure will be called upon to sustain.

If desired, a floating kick-log 14 may be placed against the fender piles 4 to distribute the shock from boats or other causes.

A continuous Wale-piece 13 is mounted on the piles 4 adjacent to the piles 2 and .each of said piles 4: are securely bolted thereto,

and mounted on the Wale-piece 18 are chocks 12 which fit between the piles l'and help to retain them in their proper positions on the Wale-piece 13.

' bear against them.

The fender piles 4: are of wood and are el nbedded at their lower ends in the'soil or bottom 10, and being attached at their upper ends to the girder 8, are adapted to spring back and forth when pressure is brought to Girders 15 cast integrally with said cap 3 may be used when necessary to strengthen and give greater support to the floor of said cap 3. j

In bulkhead construction the outer row of piles 2 are necessarily much longer than the inner'row or rows, owing to the fact of a greater length being required to drive to a proper depth for holding them securely, and

V by the method of reenforcingused the outer water-tight joints.

part of the piles 2 are of a suflicient thickness of, concrete to prevent the reenforcing from being injured by the action of the water. j The monolithic cap 3 is secured to the piles, 2 by imbedding the heads of said piles 2 in said cap 3, and by having reenforcing rods of a suitable size imbedded in thegrout in the recesses 5 and passing through the parallel side of the said cap 3. The recesses.

5 are filled with cement grout after the piles 2 are installed in proper position and when same becomes hardened produces The'manholes 1 are placed at su itable distances in the cap 3 and are of a sufiicient piles 2enters the pile near the top from theside so as not of the pile.

The preferable construction in a sea-wall is to'set two rows of piles 2 so that their to interfere with the driving preferably done by pumping this material I formed of concrete sheet upper ends incline at an angle toward each 'Waling piecesare bolted nearthejtop of the r piles and-a similar pair near the water-line to form guides tozke'ep the piles in alignment while installing them; f a V 3 If. desired the tops. of the rows of piles can be anchored together by'struts cut in between the top wale pieces, and forthat purpose the bolts holding the top wale pieces to the sides of the piles have an eye in place of a head. These, eye-bolts should be nearlyopposite each other and the rows are connected by rods having hooks on the ends and a turn-buckle in the middle to take up the stress on the struts. 7

After a suflicient number of piles are in place,' usually about ten or more, the forms for the cap 3 are erected on the top of the upper waling pieces and whenthe form is completed and the reenforcingrods placed, the concrete is poured in the forms and when the concrete is suliiciently hardened the forms are removed and moved along the line of the piling, and the process of reenforcing and filling is thus repeated until the entire wall isconstru-cted,thus causing the said 'cap portion to be continuous throughout. i i v In cases where it is desired to fill the vacant space included between the rows of piling and the cap and the space in thecap,

this ling in maybe done as soon as suiticient of the cap has been constructed, and, if necessary, a temporary wall across the'end of any; particular section to be filled may be erected for the purpose of holding the filling and allowing the water to escape therefrom as the fill is made. I

It will be noticed that by this method construction it is not necessary in any case to construct a coffer-dam in orderctoxerect astructure' of thiskind. I Having thus describedmy invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is:

Av bulkhead, sea wall, dry-dock, and the like, comprising parallel imperviouswalls piles jetted and driven into. the bottom] of a body of water, forming a hollow channel between said walls, a hollow, monolithic;reenforced com crete coverof substa'ntialdepth and formed With acomparatively large enclosed chamher and comparatively small filling holes through its upper floor and lower floor, cast chamber in said cover, the Whole forming a about the upper ends of thevpiles forming rigid and massive structure.

said Walls and forming integral enclosin Walls therewith, and a filling of plasti z V ALEXANDER BROWNLEE' dredging detritus injected through the fill- Witnesses:

ing holes into the hollow channel formed HARRISON G. One, 2

between said Walls and into the enclosed FRED J. WHITTLESEY. 

